A nanopore is a nanometer-scale pore providing the sole pathway for an ionic current. An exemplary nanopore can be created from depositing alpha hemolysin onto the surface of a lipid bilayer under electrical stimulus, as described in US Application Publication No. 2011/0193570, which are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.
Nanopore sequencing has the potential to become a direct, fast, and inexpensive DNA sequencing technology. Ideally, individual nucleotides of a single-stranded (ss) DNA passing through a nanopore will uniquely modulate an ionic current flowing through the nanopore, allowing the record of the current to provide DNA sequence information. However, a common challenge to nanopore sequencing is that the ss DNA translocation is rapid, and the electrical signals obtained cannot be resolved for reliable DNA sequencing. DNA duplex sections have been used to slow translocation of a ss DNA to provide more resolvable electrical signals. However, as the currently available methods conduct nanopore detection at about room temperature or higher, a relatively long DNA duplex section is required to stall the ss DNA in the nanopore.
Thus, there is a need to provide a method to sequence an unknown DNA using nanopore technology.